According to Plan
by Neurotic-Canuck
Summary: As the infamous hit-man; Red Ace, Quinn had no loyalties and killed without bias as long as she was being paid. But when a job goes wrong and suddenly a nation-wide manhunt demanded for her capture, she had no choice but to accept an ultimatum with the Joes.


Quinn held in her breath, her body steeling against the rough bark of the tree she hid in as she held out her arm and in its grasp a loaded gun. Two guards armed with their own concealed guns walked the old forest trail, their eyes wandering through the forest inspecting for any unwanted company. But unbeknownst to them a single glance up into the branches of a grand Tule tree would had spelled their death as they passed under it. Ice like eyes trailed the two men as they walked under her, waiting for them to uncover her presence.

But the two guards simply walked on by none the wiser and unknowingly had just saved their lives at lacking on what they had been paid to do. Quinn retracted her arm and hid the small gun back in its holster as she let out her breath that she had held in. She pushed her back off the tree and eased in her tension.

Her lip curled to a crooked smirk from under her dark mask as she reached in front of her to pull off the camouflage tarp over her readied sniper rifle. From a small pack on her hip she pulled out a long, slender bullet with her gloved hand. On the side of the bullet's casing a small images of an Ace of Spades was etched in, this was the signature cartridge of the _Red Ace;_ Her signature bullet.

"Go time~" she whispered to herself as she loaded the cartridge into the gun,

Quinn lowered her upper body onto the branch she straddled. She leaned over the gun, placing her chin on the rest as she gaze through the infrared scope, swiveling the gun slightly to check on the positions of the guards the surrounded her target's mansion.

Her nose scrunched with a slight discontent, a total of six men in black walking the perimeter and she could only suspect a few more at the other side of the building. They were uncomfortably close to her; or rather she had positioned herself uncomfortably close to them.

It would have been much safer to had camped a few miles back, a distance that she was comfortable with. But the truth remains is that her target's mansion was in the middle of a forest, trees and leaves made difficult to create a straight long distant shot. After being able to track her target down in a matter of weeks, and studying the maps and layout of the location the only safe shot she could take without missing her target was literally few minutes sprint away from the unwelcoming gates.

Her mission was to hit her target without being seen and the chances of her getting out of this without anyone seeing her was very unlikely. But, if her timing was precise, and the weeks spent memorizing the pathways of the guards a hundred percent accurate. Then according to plan, she would be able to escape without capture though she would still need to knock a few men unconscious along the way and hope for her leg to hold out for a mile game of run and duck. Then by noon she would be on her way home with her bank account stocked with new money.

A light opened from one of the top windows of the mansion and Quinn was quick to angle her gun at its direction. With sight through the scope she smirked as she found her target. He was old, but not feeble, the hair on his head thin as the frown on his wrinkled face. His strides were slow as he threw his outer jacket onto the bed by the side then reached for his pants to pull out a gun of his own and throwing it carelessly on the bed as well. This though did not surprise Quinn, she expected the man to be carrying a handgun at all times, he was after all a _'Don'_. That's right, a crime boss. The target had claimed his violent actions and previous 'partners' to be a thing of the past and he would now live his life crimeless, this did not seem to convince her clients who wanted to make sure he kept his word, 'permanently'.

Personally, Quinn did not dislike the old don and she had nothing against him. He was a business man, though not the tradition sort he had a business to run and a profit to keep. In fact, had the tables been turned and her client had been the old Don and her target reversed, she would imagine he would have given her a higher pay if he was generous enough and Quinn would have carried out her job with the same neutral mindset of gunning down her hypothetical targets. But unfortunately, she was only profiting off his termination.

Quinn slowed her breath, breathing through her parted lips as she loaded her sniper gun. The bullet came to place with a click and she placed her index finger around the trigger, slowly putting pressure on it as she aimed. Her gun followed the targets slow pace, all the while calculating any factors that could lead to any slight error in the bullets trajectory. Finally he had stopped, and to her luck by the window fumbling with his lighter and drawing it close to his face to light the cigarette in his mouth.

_...four...three...two..._

She held her breath in as she aimed at his chest...

_BANG!_

She fired. The shot ran loud through the still air even with the precautionary suppressor she had screwed on the barrel. The bullet sped across the distance, blasting through the wide window and before the shattered glass could fall to hit the ground, the bullet burrowed into the target's upper torso.

Once she saw that she had hit her mark she was quick to straighten her back, not bothering to check whether her target had been successfully terminated. This was not because of lack of experience but an over-confidence in her own skill; her aim remained true, to come close enough to rupture her targets heart.

Her bullet, her shot, her M.O.

In a swift movement she cocked the bolt of her sniper rifle and out popped the empty casing, her other hand swiped across the air and grabbed it before it got out of reach. She stretched out her hand and opened it with her palm facing up her eyes never leaving the empty casing. She then slowly tilted her hand and watched in amusement as it rolled off her palm and drop at the base of the tree. This had become an odd habit of her especially with her expertise as a hired gun, it was rather an unwritten rule of people such as herself to make sure that they did not leave a single trace of evidence at the site. In fact, it is generally a rule that the gun used to kill the target was to be disposed so that nothing can be traced back to her.

But in Quinn's mind, half of the excitement was leaving trails of her presence at the scene as her way of marking her kill. She enjoyed the exciting shiver that ran in her as she imagined the faces of the investigators, following her trail like mice following a line of crumbs only to be led once again to a dead-end. In her case, the empty cartridge would be the dead-end as the investigators knew _she_ was the killer but at the same time not know who _she _is.

She hooked the sniper rifle with a strap and slung it onto her shoulder, the sound of the guard's shouting was becoming louder and Quinn took this as a sign to get a move on. She then proceeded to climb down the tree by grabbing on to the lower branches until finally her boots came in contact with the forest ground with a soft thud. She turned on her heels and burst into a sprint, making her way down to her escape route. The gun was heavy but its weight was something that she was used to, of course, she's done this many times, at one point in her life she was trained to do this, but she would always note how it irked her that she was heaving such a heavy gun on her shoulder while she ran. She took hold of it with both hands to relieve the pressure the sling had on her shoulder and continued onwards, her mind nonchalantly wondering if she could perhaps buy a new gun, a lighter gun... though that would mean she would go over the trouble of re-modifying it...but then again, she would be getting a _new_ gun.

Suddenly, a shot rang from behind her and a bullet passed by her left, she quickly looked over her shoulder and saw guards running after her, their guns were drawn. Her eyes widened slightly in shock; they weren't suppose to catch up with her that fast, but she managed to dive behind a tree as the guards fired once more.

Their bullets dug into her tree and Quinn tried her upmost best to curl behind it to avoid being hit. She quickly cocked open the bolt of her sniper gun and placed a new bullet in then reached for the glock in its strap as she tried to catch her breath. Holding each gun with her finger at the trigger she slowly pushed herself up on her feet but as she straightened her legs a sudden wave of pain erupted from her left knee. She straggled slightly and swore under her breath,

"Bloody useless-" in annoyance she knocked the butt of her glock hard on her leg resulting on another wave of pain to erupt from it,

She hissed in pain and regretted hitting her leg as she leaned harder on the trunk of her tree, nearby the footsteps of the guards continued to grow louder and she knew it was wise not to linger any longer there. With a quick peek from the corner of the tree, she fired at the men so that they would take cover. When the coast was clear she knelt down slightly before begrudgingly forcing herself to sprint to another tree. She limped across the forest grounds before tripping behind a new tree and nudged her back against its bark. Her brows knitted tightly together, the pain intensifying as she stood on her feet. She needed to get out of there soon and for very good reasons as well. To get out of there and avoid capture from the guards she underestimated and second to get out of there get her painkillers she had idiotically left in her motel room.

Behind the tree she could hear the men regrouping, their voices loud and distraught as they had lost sight of where she had gone. And to her luck, they would of course head her direction once more, she would have groaned in frustration but doing so would given her spot up..._and_ it was an unprofessional thing to do.

As the men crept closer Quinn shrugged her shoulders close to her frame and held the glock up ready to aim and shoot. She slowed her breath and steadied her heart, eyes trained to the right awaiting for a guard to pop from the side and for her to take that chance to attack. A man finally came to view after a few quiet minutes, his arm out in front of him with his gun pointing at the direction he walked in, Quinn took this chance to attack.

Before he could turn his head Quinn kneed the guard in the stomach, fighting the burning sensation in her leg as she did so. The man doubled over, his gun released from his grip and the others by know turning at their way. She grabbed onto the back of his collar and hauled him in front of her as his partners shot at their direction, his body trembling at each bullet that passed into him, Quinn in the other hand took this opportunity to spy another guard and shoot him between the eyes with her glock.

To the corner of her eye she saw another man charge towards her, completely abandoning the use of his gun and ran at her with anger in his eyes, his hand balled into a fist. Quickly, Quinn let go of the dead guard's collar and whipped around him pointing the sniper rifle that hung low at her hips and pulled the trigger. Shooting with one hand the recoil of the gun almost sent Quinn onto the ground, but she buried her boots in and widened her stance as she watched fall on his knees then on to his side crying in pain, a hole on his stomach clearly visible and bleeding out.

As a cold night wind blew between the leaves and finally the forest became still once more Quinn pulled down her mask and let out an exhausted sigh. The man's moaning faded into nothing more than whimpering until finally he had stopped. Returned her glock back in its strap and emptied her sniper gun once more, her eyes scanning the trees near the mansion and spotted the waving lights from more guards searching for her. From the mess and noises she made it would probably be best to get off the Don's property as soon as possible-

_SNAP!_

Instinctively Quinn steeled her arm and without a second thought she twisted on her heels and swung her arm hard to hit the person sneaking up on her. But as she turned and caught sight of the person her arm stopped half way between them, the man's arm had dropped to his side and his hold on his gun loosened until he had finally let it fall on the ground. His wide eyes staring at her and blood started to form from his parted lips, he slowly lifted his hand up to his abdomen where the tip of a sword protruded.

Quinn hesitantly took a step back, her hand once again wrapped around the handle of her gun, her stance defensive as she watched as the sword slowly slipped out of the man's stomach. He fell with a loud thud and there behind him stood another man fully clad in white. He whipped his sword besides him to let the blood platter onto the grass, his eyes never meeting hers while her own eyes never left him. His face was covered by a white mask but his features were distinctively Asian, he moved to sheath his sword at his back until finally his dark eyes turned on her; her grip unconsciously grew tight around her gun.

"You're a hard person to find _Red Ace_" His voice was gruff yet it held a rather nonchalant tone as he spoke,

She was hesitant to answer, surprised by the fact that he knew who she was let alone knew she was going to be there. She straightened up slightly to seem at ease and as well to try to look intimidating but the man stood a few inches taller than her,

"Apparently not hard enough" She replied while she kept her hand at her side.

The man seemed to smirk from under his mask noting how she was still acting defensive but did not look as if he was offended by her precaution. Instead, he causally turned around leaving Quinn a little puzzled on whether he was leaving. A rather sarcastic thought skimmed through her mind at perhaps that he was just trying to be a good samaritan and would be leaving. not wanting anything back in return. This man had an agenda that he was not willing to share at the moment with her, she just knew it.

"Come..." he said over his shoulder as he began walking away,

But she did not budge from her spot, and continued to eye the man suspiciously

"Why should I?"

He stopped in his tracks turning his body slightly and stared at her once more with mischievously unnerving eyes, Quinn tried to keep her poker face on and did not turn her eyes away.

"Because, I have a _job_ for you," he said with a hint of amusement, "one I doubt you could refuse"

At this point Quinn's defensive posture and distrust towards the white clad man seemed to disappear at the subject of a job. She repositioned her hand onto her hip and arched a brow enthralled by his proposition,

"Oh really?"she smirked, "_try me_..."

* * *

**Thank you for reading the first chapter! I'm not really happy by the way I worded this, it seems to butchered and blunt from me so if anyone could give me a hint on writing in third person it would really help! I haven't been writing for a while so maybe that's why I lost my style. Anyway, I'm what you would call new to the fandom but I'm starting to be well-versed and I use a lot of sources so that I can keep the cannon characters in-character.**

**I would really like to hear what you guys think of this and would not mind any criticism or pointers! Again thank you for reading, Till next time! **


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